West Virginia Trivia & Tidbits - Page 17

Looking for West Virginia trivia? Try our list West Virginia little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

West Virginia has its own state day, June 20, celebrating its becoming a state in 1863. “West Virginia Day” became a legal holiday in 1927.

first appeared: 1/7/2001

The first rural free mail delivery was started in Charles Town (pop. 3012) on Oct. 6, 1896.

first appeared: 12/31/2000

An 84-foot granite obelisk erected in 1909 in Point Pleasant Battle Monument State Park in Point Pleasant (pop. 5,682) commemorates a battle between Indians and militiamen on Oct. 10, 1774. In 1908, the U.S. Senate decided the battle was part of the Revolution because it prevented an Indian alliance with the British.

first appeared: 12/24/2000

Charles Town (pop. 2,857) was founded in 1786. It was named for George Washington’s youngest brother, Charles, who named most of the streets after family members: George, Washington, Samuel, and Mildred streets are a few.

first appeared: 12/17/2000

The first brick street in the world reportedly was laid in Charleston (pop. 56,098) on Oct. 23, 1870, between Kanawha and Virginia streets.

first appeared: 12/10/2000

During a Revolutionary War battle in 1782, Fort Henry was under attack when the gunpowder ran out. Betty Zane, of Wheeling, ran through crossfire to a storage cabin 100 yards away and carried gunpowder back in a tablecloth, saving the day. Her courage was celebrated by her descendant, Zane Grey, in his 1903 novel Betty Zane.

first appeared: 12/3/2000

Father’s Day was not officially recognized until 1972, but West Virginia was the first state to observe a special day honoring fathers, 74 years earlier, in 1908.

first appeared: 11/26/2000

Coal House, the only residence in the world built entirely of coal, is located in White Sulphur Springs (pop. 2,779). The house was first occupied on June 1, 1961. It later was turned into a gift shop.

first appeared: 11/19/2000

Pearl S. Buck, author of The Good Earth and several other novels, was born in Hillsboro on June 26, 1892. As an infant, she traveled to China with her parents, who were missionaries, but returned to Hillsboro when she was 9. She won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1938.

first appeared: 11/12/2000

Belle Boyd of Martinsburg (pop. 14,541), which was part of Virginia at the time, was a famous spy for the Confederacy during the Civil War. She became an actress and lecturer after the war.

first appeared: 11/5/2000

In July 1921, West Virginia was the first state to institute a sales tax. The tax was levied on, among other things, the gross income of electric light and power retailers, timber, oil, coal, and natural gas.

first appeared: 10/22/2000

Nathan Goff Jr. and Aretas Fleming both claimed victory in the 1888 gubernatorial election. Both were sworn in as governor on March 4, 1889, since the matter hadn’t been resolved. The state Supreme Court decided the previous governor, Emanuel Wilson, should remain in office until the matter was settled by the legislature. In January 1890, the Democratic-controlled legislature chose Fleming.

first appeared: 10/8/2000

In 1928, Minnie Buckingham Harper of Welch was appointed to the House of Delegates, becoming the first black woman to serve in a legislative body in the United States. She was appointed by the governor to fill the vacancy resulting from her husband’s death.

first appeared: 9/24/2000

Gov. Cecil Underwood became the state’s youngest governor when he was first elected in 1956 at the age of 34. He was elected again in 1996, making him the nation’s oldest governor. He is 77.

first appeared: 9/10/2000

Rush D. Holt of Weston was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1934 at the age of 29. The Constitution requires senators to be at least 30, so he had to wait almost six months until June 21, 1935, (two days after his 30th birthday) to take his seat.

first appeared: 8/27/2000

Okay, now the decision is final. Wheeling originally was West Virginia’s capital. It was changed to Charleston in 1870, to Wheeling in 1875, and back to Charleston in 1885.

first appeared: 8/13/2000

White Sulphur Springs had an interesting secret for more than 30 years. About 800 feet beneath the town’s famous resort, The Greenbrier, is a 112,544-square-foot bunker designed in the ’60s to house the entire U.S. Congress and its support staff in the event of a nuclear attack.

first appeared: 7/30/2000

Some residents wanted a total break when West Virginia separated from Virginia in 1861. One proposed name for the new state was Kanawha, after a major river in the area, but a state convention decided on West Virginia.

first appeared: 7/16/2000

WEST VIRGINIA IS THE ONLY state created by the Civil War, and the only one resulting from a presidential proclamation. After a vote in which more than two-thirds of the state delegates opposed secession from the Union, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation on April 20, 1863, declaring West Virginia a state after 60 days.

first appeared: 7/2/2000

Moundsville, W.Va., is home of the continent's largest prehistoric burial mound-Grave Creek Mound-which is 69 feet high and 295 feet wide at its base. The Adena people, who lived in the area nearly 2,000 years ago, built the cone-shaped burial site in stages spanning a century or more, with multiple burials at different levels.

first appeared: 6/18/2000

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